Presentation Reminder – Mobile or Traditional? Student Value Placement on Learning Technologies
Mobile or Traditional? Student Value Placement on Learning Technologies
Thursday February 26, 12:00-1:00pm in Y324
Dr. Brett McCollum, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Apple Distinguished Educator, Nexen Scholar
Department Chemistry
Student voices are a critical component of an educational experience evaluation when novel technologies are incorporated into the learning process. Combining learner commentary, observed actions, and performance, researchers have identified variations in student experiences when using multiple external representations and the value that students place on learning technologies.
Participants were recruited from first-year General Chemistry, and their responses were categorized and triangulated using a variety of data sources. The results of this project are currently guiding the design and evaluation of digital learning materials for touch-screen interfaces, such as the iPad. Attendees will be given time to reflect on how the findings can be extrapolated to the use of technology in their field.
Research Associate position – call for expressions of interest!
The Institute for Scholarship of Teaching and Learning seeks to engage Mount Royal University faculty in teaching-learning related scholarship, to cultivate interdisciplinary communities of practice and collaborations, and to contribute to the existing body of scholarship about teaching and learning in higher education. In pursuit of these goals, the Institute’s current programming includes the Nexen Scholars Program, the TransCanada Collaborative SoTL Inquiry grants, a number of facilitated communities of practice on special topics, and an annual conference and forum.
Position Description
The Institute for Scholarship of Teaching and Learning is seeking expressions of interest from full-time MRU faculty members to serve as a Research Associate for a two-year term. The primary responsibility of this position will be to take a leadership role in an emerging, interdisciplinary research theme in the field of SoTL, such as undergraduate research. Other minor roles and responsibilities will include assisting with the Nexen Scholars Program, the TransCanada Collaborative SoTL Grant selection process, help with the organization and delivery of I-SoTL events, and occupying an ex-officio position on the I-SoTL Advisory Committee. Other duties and responsibilities, by mutual consent between the Director and the faculty member and commensurate with amount of reassigned time allocated, may be assigned as need arises. The Research Associate will receive one course of teaching release per year (to be approved by the relevant Dean and Department Head). The work of the Research Associate contributes to the service portion of their work pattern.
Term of Appointment
The term of appointment will be from August 15, 2015 until June 15, 2017.
The ideal candidate will possess:
- experience leading interdisciplinary SoTL research projects
- knowledge of emerging trends and current literature in interdisciplinary SoTL (eg. undergraduate research)
- a record of scholarship and engagement in the international SoTL community
Interested individuals should submit a cover letter highlighting their relevant background and interest, and current CV to Janice Miller-Young at jmyoung[at]mtroyal.ca by 4:30 pm on March 27, 2015.
Please also indicate that you have discussed this with your Dean and whether the Dean is supportive.
Some risible research posts…
As it’s Friday before a long weekend I thought I’d post some things from the lighter side of research – thanks to various tweeters for supplying the good stuff.
Best Abstract Ever (scroll down for it carefully)
Fun with stats:
The case of the disappearing teaspoons: longitudinal cohort study of the displacement of teaspoons in an Australian research institute
Fun with words
Scientists Sneak Bob Dylan lyrics into articles
How to tell the story of SoTL??
I am working on some “stories” about SoTL to support future fundraising initiatives. It is an interesting challenge – until now much of my focus has been on how to facilitate and communicate SoTL within an interdisciplinary community of scholars – what kinds of questions does it ask, what kinds of methodologies does it use, and how can it be rigorous/trustworthy?
Now I am turning my attention to stories and anecdotes and how to “package them” for the layperson (i.e. not a scholar). How can we best describe to the non-scholar what SoTL is and why it is important? I doubt they want to hear about rigour and trustworthiness!! So rather than scholarly ways of classifying SoTL (type of question, methodology, scope), I’m now thinking about the reasons that scholars engage in SoTL. Could this be a better way to tell our story?? Looking at the projects we have supported through the Institute, I think I see 3 different reasons scholars at MRU have had for doing SoTL work:
- Generating and studying innovations in teaching – a teacher (or teachers) has designed a teaching innovation eg. an innovative assignment or a new model to help students conceptualize content or develop skills, and they want to study how well that innovation works in the classroom
- Applying and studying cutting-edge pedagogies in a new context – a teacher (or teachers) wants to try an innovative pedagogy (eg. flipped classroom, reflective writing) that is based on research that already exists, but they want to study it in a new context (usually their own class)
- Understanding the complexities of teaching and learning – a teacher is not necessarily trying something new but is interested in better understanding students’ experiences with difficult topics (racism, social justice), their learning of complex skills such as research or leadership skills, and/or how complicated factors such as diversity and student affect, self-efficacy, or identity influence student learning and experience
For some scholars, these reasons might overlap with each other (especially once the data comes in!!) But do you think this captures most of us? Where would you place yourself?
Call for Proposals: 6th annual Banff Symposium on SoTL, Connecting People, Practices, and Pedagogies
Mount Royal University Annual Symposium on Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
Connecting People, Practices, and Pedagogies
Nov 12-14, 2015
Banff, Alberta, Canada
Proposal Deadline: April 24, 2015
Call for Proposals: http://isotlsymposium.mtroyal.ca/call-for-proposals.html
The Symposium on Scholarship of Teaching and Learning is a practitioners’ conference dedicated to developing teaching and learning research, sharing initial findings, going public with results of completed projects, and building an extended scholarly community. This year’s conference opens with a reception and keynote presentation by Dr. Peter Felten, and will provide a wide variety of plenary and concurrent presentations, and a dedicated poster session. In its 6th year, the conference draws together faculty, students, and administrators interested in the systematic inquiry of teaching and learning.
We invite proposals that match one of the conference tracks (see below) from individuals or teams of scholars for the following formats:
Oral presentations (40 minutes including time for questions)
Workshops (3-hour pre-conference workshops);
Poster presentations
The conference tracks are:
- Research on teaching and learning – presentations on active or completed SoTL projects
- Involving undergraduate students in SoTL – presentations on best practices or example projects where undergraduate students are acting as co-researchers
- Teaching and learning with technology – presentations on the utility and impact of technology for teaching and learning
- Collaborating beyond the single classroom – presentations on multi-class, interdisciplinary, or cross-institutional projects
- Methodologies and innovative approaches to data gathering and analysis – presentations providing a ‘how to’ introduction to specific research methods and theoretical frameworks
- Calls for collaboration, triangulation, and development (poster session only) – poster presentations that share early-stage research questions with the objective of establishing connections with like-minded researchers
Proposals are encouraged from students, faculty, administrators, or community members committed to the systematic scholarly inquiry into aspects of teaching and learning in a higher education setting.
Kudos to David Finch for his paper on managing emotions in a business course with experiential learning
Finch, D., Peacock, M., Lazdowski, D., & Hwang, M. (2015) Managing Emotions: A case study exploring the relationship between experiential learning, emotions, and student performance. The International Journal of Management Education 13(1), 23-36.